Wet processing apparatus

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for subjecting moving material to a liquid treatment, including a treatment zone defined in part by spaced opposed non-parallel wall members lying in planes which converge at a location exterior of the treatment zone. A flexible reed member extends into the treatment zone from support means located at said exterior location. Both the material being treated and the processing liquid are passed through the treatment zone, with the position of the reed member being such that the flow of processing liquid causes the reed member to vibrate laterally between the non-parallel wall members.

United States Patent 1 OToole et al.

[ WET PROCESSING APPARATUS [75] Inventors: Jerome M. OToole, Orange;John B.

McManus, Jr., Worcester, both of Mass.

[73] Assignee: Rodney Hunt Company, Orange,

Mass.

[22] Filed: Aug. 23, 1971 {21] Appl. No.: 174,024

[52] US. Cl. 68/3 SS, 68/175, 68/184 [51] Int. Cl. B05c 3/05 [58] Fieldof Search 68/3 SS, 184, 175

[56] References Cited I UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,430,466 3/1969 Peter68/184 3,656,325 4/1972 Peter 68/3 SS June 19, 1973 PrimaryExaminerWilliam 1. Price AttorneyChittick, Pfund, Birch, Samuels &Gauthier [57] ABSTRACT An apparatus for subjecting moving material to aliquid treatment, including a treatment zone defined in part by spacedopposed non-parallel wall members lying in planes which converge at alocation exterior of the treatment zone. A flexible reed member extendsinto the treatment zone from support means located at said exteriorlocation. Both the material being treated and the processing liquid arepassed through the treatment zone, with the position of the reed memberbeing such that the flow of processing liquid causes the reed memher tovibrate laterally between the non-parallel wall members.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures WET PROCESSING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION This invention relates generally to apparatus for sub jectingmoving material, usually in web form, to a wet treatment, and isparticularly concerned with an improvement to apparatus of the typedescribed in United States Letters Patent No. 3,430,466.

The aforesaid prior art apparatus includes a treatment zone defined inpart by spaced opposed parallel wall members. Both the material to betreated and the treatment liquid are passed through the treatment zone.A flexible reed member which extends into the treatment zone from anexterior support, is caused to vibrate between the parallel wall membersby the action of the liquid stream. Although this arrangement hasoperated in a generally satisfactory manner, several problems have beenencountered. One such problem relates to the marking of delicate fabricsby the read member as the latter vibrates between the parallel wallmembers. It is believed that this problem results from the fabric beingpinched between the walls of the treatment zone and the upper edge ofthe vibrating reed member. Another problem relates to the prematurefailure of the vibrating reed member due to the development of metalfatigue.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A general object of the present invention isthe provision of a novel and improved apparatus which obviates each ofthe above-mentioned problems. A more specific object of the presentinvention is to. eliminate fabric marking by altering the relationshipof the wall members forming the treatment zone and the reed member so asto avoid edge or line contact between the reed member and the fabricbeing treated. This is accomplished by arranging the wall members innonparallel. planes which converge at a location exterior of thetreatment zone, and by supporting the reed member at said exteriorlocation for vibrating motion about the line of convergence of saidplanes.

Another more specific object of the present invention is to provide animproved mounting means for the vibrating reed member, which meansgreatly prolongs the useful life of the reed member. This isaccomplished by allowing the reed member to vibrate about one edge whichis seated in a groove in a stationary support member, and by laterallysupporting the reed member with resilient material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in side elevationwith portions broken away of an apparatus embodying the concepts of thepresent invention; and,

FIG. 2 is'an enlarged sectional view of the treatment zone, vibratingreed member and mounting means therefor.

Referring initially to FIG. 1, there is shown an apparatus for washingtextile material in web form. The apparatus includes a tank 12containing the washing liquid 14. A housing 16 is mounted on the tank12. The housing encloses a treatment chamber 18 which communicates withthe underlying interior of the tank 12 via a treatment zone generallyindicated at 20. A vibrating reed member 22 extends upwardly into thetreatment zone from a support means 24. The textile web 26 is threadedthrough a series of upper and lower guide rolls 28a and 28b beforepassing upwardly through the treatment zone 20 into the treatmentchamber 18. After entering the treatment chamber, the web materialpasses over another guide roller 30 and then continues downwardly backthrough the treatment zone 20 around another lower guide roll 32 be foreexiting upwardly over still another guide roll 34.

A pump 36 is located exterior of the tank 12 and is driven by a motor38. Pump 36 has a suction line 40 communicating with the interior oftank 12 beneath the level of the washing liquid 14, and a discharge line42 which connects the pump with the treatment chamber 18. Operation ofthe pump 36 results in liquid being pumped from tank 12 into thetreatment chamber 18, from whence the liquid escapes in a mannerindicated diagrammatically by the arrows in FIG. 1, downwardly throughtreatment zone 20 back to the tank 12.

With additional reference to FIG. 2, it will be seen that the treatmentzone 20 is defined in part by spaced opposed wall members 44a and 44b.The wall members 44a and 44b lie in non-parallel planes which convergeat an underlying location exterior of the treatment zone 20, whichlocation preferably coincides with an elon gated horizontally disposedgroove 46 in the upper surface of a stationary support member 48, thelatter forming a part of the support means generally indicated at 24.Each of the wall members 44a and 44b is preferably formed integrallywitha converging upper wall section 50 and a diverging lower wall section52, the former being secured as by welding at 54 to the wall 56 of thetreatment chamber 18, and the latter having horizontally extendingflanges 58 which are again secured as by welding at 60 to another wallsection 62 of the housing 16.

The support member 48 is secured in place on brackets 64 which areattached to the opposite sides of the tank 12. The reed member 22 iscarried by the support member 48, with its lower edge seated in groove46.

Support member 48 is further provided with inclined sides 66 havingattached thereto retaining members 68 by means of bolts 70. Theretaining members 68 are preferably provided with inwardly turned upperflanges 72. The retaining members 68 cooperate with the centrallylocated reed member 22 and the underlying support member 48 to definecavities on either side of the 'reed member 22, which cavities contain aresilient proximately coincident with the line of convergence of theplanes containing wall members44a and 44b, and since the material 26being treated is guided over the wall members 44a and 44b, thisarrangement avoids any line or edge contact between the reed member andthe material being treated. Instead, the opposite sides of the upperportion of the reed member come into' face to face contact with thematerial passing over the wall members 44a and 44b, the result being apadding action which is further cushioned by liquid momentarily caughtbetween the material and the reed member. Marking of the material beingtreated is thus completely avoided.

By committing the reed member 22 to vibrate about its lower edge, and byproviding resilient compressible packing material 74a and 74b on theinside of the reed member, reed vibrating is accompanied by minimumbending, and hence failure due to the development of metal fatigue isfor all practical purposes eliminated.

It is our intention to cover all changes and modifications of theembodiment herein chosen for purposes of disclosure which do not departfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claimsappended hereto.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for subjecting moving material to a liquid treatment,comprising: a pair of spaced opposed wall members defining a treatmentzone therebetween, the said wall members lying in non-parallel planeswhich intersect at a line which is located exterior of said zone,support means including a fixed support member having a groove thereinwhich is coincident with said line, a flexible planar reed member havingone edge seated in said groove, said reed member protruding into saidzone from said support means, means for passing a stream of processingliquid through said zone, the position of said reed member in said zonebeing suchthat the flow of processing liquid will cause said reed memberto pivotally vibrate about said one edge between said wall members, andguide means for directing the material being treated through said zonebetween said reed member and at least one of said wall members.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said support means isfurther characterized by retaining members extending upwardly from saidsupport member on opposite sides of said reed member, and resilientfiller means between said retaining members and said reed member forlaterally supporting said reed member.

3. Apparatus for subjecting a moving web to a liquid treatment,comprising: housing means enclosing a treatment chamber; a passagewayforming a treatment zone leading from said treatment chamber to anopening at the exterior of said housing means, a portion of saidtreatment zone being defined by spaced opposed wall members, the saidwall members lying in nonparallel planes which intersect at a locationexterior of said housing means; support means at said exterior location, said support means including a support member having anelongated groove facing said opening, said groove extending along theline of intersection of said non-parallel planes; a flexible planar reedmember carried by said support means, one edge of said reed member beingseated in said groove, said reed member extending from said supportmeans into said treatment zone, said support means further includingresilient means on opposite sides of said reed member for laterallysupporting said reed member; means for pumping processing liquid intosaid chamber, from whence the liquid passes through said treatment zoneand out through said opening, the position of said reed member beingsuch with respect to said wall members that the flow of processingliquid through said treatment zone causes said reed member to vibratelaterally between said wall members, and means for guiding the materialbeing treated into and out of said treatment chamber through saidtreatment zone, the entering material being passed between said reedmember and one of said wall members, and the exiting material beingpassed between said reed member and the other of said wall members.

1. Apparatus for subjecting moving material to a liquid treatment,comprising: a pair of spaced opposed wall members defining a treatmentzone therebetween, the said wall members lying in non-parallel planeswhich intersect at a line which is located exterior of said zone,support means including a fixed support member having a groove thereinwhich is coincident with said line, a flexible planar reed member havingone edge seated in said groove, said reed member protruding into saidzone from said support means, means for passing a stream of processingliquid through said zone, the position of said reed member in said zonebeing such that the flow of processing liquid will cause said reedmember to pivotally vibrate about said one edge between said wallmembers, and guide means for directing the material being treatedthrough said zone between said reed member and at least one of said wallmembers.
 2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said supportmeans is further characterized by retaining members extending upwardlyfrom said support member on opposite sides of said reed member, andresilient filler means between said retaining members and said reedmember for laterally supporting said reed member.
 3. Apparatus forsubjecting a moving web to a liquid treatment, comprising: housing meansenclosing a treatment chamber; a passageway forming a treatment zoneleading from said treatment chamber to an opening at the exterior ofsaid housing means, a portion of said treatment zone being defined byspaced opposed wall members, the said wall members lying in non-parallelplanes which intersect at a location exterior of said housing means;support means at said exterior location, said support means including asupport member having an elongated groove facing said opening, saidgroove extending along the line of intersection of said non-parallelplanes; a flexible planar reed member carried by said support means, oneedge of said reed member being seated in said groove, said reed memberextending from said support means into said treatment zone, said supportmeans further including resilient means on opposite sides of said reedmember for laterally supporting said reed member; means for pumpingprocessing liquid into said chamber, from whence the liquid passesthrough said treatment zone and out through said opening, the positionof said reed member being such with respect to said wall members thatthe flow of processing liquid through said treatment zone causes saidreed member to vibrate laterally between said wall members, and meansfor guiding the material being treated into and out of said treatmentchamber through said treatment zone, the entering material being passedbetween said reed member and one of said wall members, and the exitingmaterial being passed between said reed member and the other of saidwall members.